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Problems of intercultural communication
Problems of intercultural communication
Problems of intercultural communication
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Introduction
As the demand of health-care interpreting is growing, health institutions need more professional medical interpreters. As an interpreter, however, many untrained bilingual people interpret between the patients and the medical practitioners in medical setting in Korea. When the interpreters who are related to the patient interpret for the patient and the medical practitioners, impartiality sometimes is challenged because it is difficult to adhere to neutrality when their relatives or friends are involved. This paper is aiming to figure out the principle of impartiality which seems to be most challenged and consequences of using relatives and friends as the interpreter drawn from my own interpreting experience in medical settings.
Description
When I was in Korea, I used to be a volunteer interpreter in international clinic. As a volunteer interpreter, my job was not demanded professional medical interpreting skills. One day, I got a call from a nurse who had a foreign patient. She told me that the patient was an English man and he needed an interpreter when he sees a doctor. The nurse also said that this consultation did not contain serious or difficult medical terminology. When I went to the waiting room, I recognized that he is my former English professor. He also remembered me so we exchanged greetings. While we were exchanging greetings, the nurse asked about our relationship and I told her that I took his class in last semester. When the nurse heard my story, she said that it might be good if the patient has a company who know him. At that time, I thought that our relationship, professor and student, would not be a problem to be an interpreter for him. Therefore, I showed him into the doctor’s room and started...
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... the patient. As a matter of situation and literature, I believe that the interpreters should not take an assignment which is related to the interpreter in medical setting. However, if the relationship with the patient is leading to successful consequences, the interpreters should take an assignment as the patient’s needed.
Conclusion
The top priority of the medical interpreters is removing language barrier between the medical practitioners and the patients and helping the patients to treat properly. Indeed, impartiality can be challenged in medical setting. However, some articles are pointed out that the interpreter who is related to the patient is not always harmful to the patients and the medical practitioners. Therefore, when the medical interpreters take an assignment, they should consider what the best is for the patients and the medical practitioners.
In the healthcare system many times patients are just patients and appointments are just appointments. The outlook on the patients and appointments all depends on the area of practice and the health professional themselves. Working in the emergency department, the nurses and doctors there typically do not see the same patient more than once and if they do the chance of them remembering them is slim to none just for the simple fact of the pace of the department. When it comes down to Physicians in the hospital setting, the care is not just quick and done. Great patient to healthcare professional relationships are formed and for some it may feel as if they are taking a “journey”(209) with their patients as they receive their medical care. This essay will be based off the book Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients by Danielle Ofri, in which Ofri herself gives us the stories of the journeys she went on with several of her patients. Patients are more than just an appointment to some people, and when it comes to Ofri she tends to treat her patients as if they are her own family.
...ulture is changing, Hmong are not all the same, importance of family, privacy issues, mental health issues, and small talk is important (Barrett et al., 1998, 181-182) . Overall, Barrett and others concluded that in order to improve interaction between patient and doctor all they have to do is follow these easy steps. First, is to be kind and have a positive attitude towards the patient and interpreter. Second, learn about each other’s cultures prior to meeting, to better understand each other. Third, better explain diagnosis and treatment options to patients. Fourth, improve translation providers need to get better interpreters who could concisely explain the consultation. Fifth, involve the family to make more thorough decisions. Sixth, respect patient’s decisions and there are still other alternatives to improve interaction (Barrett et al., 1998, 182-183).
In this case, communication and medications adoptions were the main difference in the treatment of a Lia. Though Lia’s parents and her doctors want best for her, but the above barriers were creating a hindrance in her treatment. They both were not understanding each other and interpreter was also not there, doctors want to transfer her to another best hospital because they were not getting with her disease but her parents misunderstood the situation and thought they were shifting her for their own benefit.
In my life I have seen how even while speaking the same language there can be communication problems. Adding the inability to speck the same language and then the complexity of describing medical conditions, I can see how the situation could turn out poorly and cause troubling effects. This chapter has helped me better understand why the Hmon...
The goal of this lesson is to explore how we can improve communication to eliminate language barriers between healthcare providers and patients in our organization and to establish culturally and linguistically appropriate goals, that provide safe, equal, and quality care to all our clients regardless of race, ethnic, or socioeconomic status. At the end of this lesson we should be
In the healthcare setting, it is very important to use medical interpreters. Without interpreters, people who speak different languages would not be able to communicate with healthcare professionals. There are many different ways that a language can be interpreted. A couple of those are actual human interpreters, or electronic interpreters. Both are pretty reliable but an actual human is often looked at as the most reliable interpreter. When you have an actual human interpreting, you don’t have to worry to much on things being translated incorrectly. Some benefits of using electronic interpreters would be the unlimited availability of languages, and being able to get the iPad or laptop as soon as you needed it. When you rely on a person to
Professional providers of language in medicine or medical interpreters are often portrayed as invisible language facilitators (Angelelli 7). This means that their role is to convey the meaning into the other language between parties in the interaction which is accomplished through a conduit role or message converter role. The incremental intervention model of interpreting lets interpreters use a variety of roles including cultural broker and advocate role. Advocacy is a role that an interpreter takes that moves from interpreting the communication between speakers to acting on behalf of one of the speakers based on the interpreter’s understanding of what the speaker’s intended outcome is (NCIHC). It is challenging for medical interpreters to judge when to switch from their role as message converters to become patient advocates, and speak out in their own voice on behalf of a patient maintaining, at all times, high ethical and professional standards. When interpreters step in the role of patient advocate they become visible in the interaction going beyond the conduit role and becoming co-participants in the triad. What is the ethical role of the medical interpreter as an advocate for the Latino patient?; when is it appropriate to use advocacy?; how to make the decision?; what are the consequences of inappropriate use of advocacy role?; what are the boundaries?
In caring for patients in the hospital setting today one must look at variety of patients from various background. Healthcare providers should be aware of patients’ culture, beliefs and attitude to provide quality care. The Office of Minority Health of the Federal Government has developed a set of 14 principles called the CLAS Standards (Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services), which are mainly directed at healthcare organization, and are mandated for all organizations receiving Federal funds. The focus is on the terms of linguistic services and efforts to provide information to patients in their own language through availability of brochures, interpreters, and other means. In this essay I would like to exam cultural considerations with emphasis on impaired verbal communication related to language barrier, because I feel that communication barrier can cause a reduction in healthcare quality and low patient satisfaction.
Pashley, H.(2012). Overcoming barriers when caring for patients with limited english proficiency. Association of Operating Room Nurses.AORN Journal, 96(3), C10-C11. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0001-2092(12)00833-2
I have recently started working as an interpreter at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Through this job, I have become my patients' voice. The experience has made me live their pain, feel their sadness, and revel in their willingness to heal; reinforcing, in my eyes, that we are not treating disease but the patient as a
This study examined the risk of preventable adverse events among patients with communication problems admitted to a hospital and a major flaw of how health care is delivered. 3% to 17% of those in the hospital experience an adverse event in which almost half of those could be considered preventable. Language barriers and disabilities serve as some sources of difficult communication between patients and health care professionals. The study found that patients with a communication problem were 3 times more likely to experience a preventable adverse event than patients without communication problems. Most events were drug related or a result of poor clinical management, however, some were the result of a communication problem, such as deafness. These medical errors relate to improper or inadequate communication and should be reduced. This article supports the proposal because communication issues are related to health literacy. Patients and health care teams must work together to achieve the best method of care by optimizing information flow between patients and health care professionals.
Language barriers are a problem that physical therapist are faced with across the nation. In American, over two-fifths of the Spanish-speaking Hispanics report that they experience difficulty understanding their medical provider because of a language barrier. In many cases the weight of this problem that physical therapists are faced with is handed over to the patients. Only half of the patients that report a difficulty understanding and needing an interpreter present are regularly provided one (Uninsured). One study found that only one percent of Hispanics received help from a trained medical interpreter. Most patients relied on the help of family and friends (Bustos). Family members and friends that are used as translators often have a limited under...
Arrangements need to be made so that they understand what is happening clearly, whether getting in a translator or just taking slightly more time so that there is a clear flow of communication happening. This will improve the quality of care that they are receiving. A study conducted by Hemsley, Balandin and Worrall (2012) has shown that time is an important factor in communication and where there are barriers nurses may avoid opening the communication channel directly with their patient rather than focussing on the patient’s carer or family to relay the message. This is a less effective way of communicating with a patient, as it does not create an environment where a patient will feel able to communicate freely to discuss any problems they may be having. Anthony & Vidal (2010) point out that the use of correct information is vital, as registered nurses rely on information to conduct quality and safe care. There may be issues with that information if it is not communicated correctly which can lead to common nursing
This causes problems about the diagnosis as well as how nurses may tell patients about issues with their care. A way a nurse can overcome this is by having an interpreter when they know that a patient doesn’t know English, but this is not always the case for most nurses as there are not a lot of interpreters around. In health practice language isn’t always to do with culture but it can be the way a nurse or doctor speaks to the patients so they may adopt certain types of jargon and the patients may feel intimidated. Madeleine Leininger, who is the founder of transcultural nursing, says that providing competent care across all cultures and to be customized to fit patient’s different beliefs and traditions and different languages that a patient may speak. Divi et al (2007) claims that language barriers increase the risk of patient care and safety as they will find it difficult to understand what is going on with their care, so it is important for patients to have access to language services such as an
Knowledge is continuously derived and analyzed from the experience of learners validating the truism that experience is the best teacher (Kolb, 1984). The aim of this module was to assist international students improve their communication skills which is key to a successful medical practice. This essay examines my journey through the module, sums up my experience and highlights its relevance to my career.